Yarn spinning and winding apparatus



S. FURST YARN SPINNING AND WINDING APPARATUS July 20, 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed. Oct. 12. 1962 July 20, 1965 s. FURST 3,195,298

YARN SPINNING AND WINDING APPARATUS Filed 001;. 12, 1962 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 IMEI FE July 20, 1965 s. FURsT YARN SPINNING AND WINDING APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Oct. 12.- 1962 July 20, 1965 s. FURST YARN srnmme AND WINDING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 12. 1962 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 FIG. 7

W w w w July 20, 1965 s. FURST YARN SPINNING AND WINDING APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Oct. 12, 1962 United States Patent 6 Claims. ici. 57-1 My invention relates to yarn winding machines that automatically receive yarn-supply coils from a spinning frame or other coil-producing machinery, for winding the yarn from the coils into larger yarn packages, such as cheeses =or cones, of a desired size and shape. According to my copending application Serial No. 82,625, filed January 13, 1961, now Patent No. 3,154,904, such a winding machine is connected with one or more spinning machines by conveying equipment that automatically furnishes the spinning cops from the spinning machines to the winding machine in accordance with the yarn consumption of the latter.

It is an object of my invention to improve the coaction of the winding machine with the supply-coil-producing machinery in order to reduce the amount of personal attendance required for servicing or maintenance work.

When in a winding machine for the above-described purposes a yarn-supply coil, such as a spinning cop, is exhausted in one of the winding stations, the depleted tubular core or quill of the cop is dotfed and replaced by a full cop from the spinning or other coil-producing machine. The cores are then returned to the coil-producing machine to be again employed in the production of coils. It may be attempted to return the empty cores from the winding machine back to the coil-producing machine by means of another conveyor. However, irrespective of the manner in which the supply coils are fed to the winding machine and the empty cores are returned to the producing machine, hereinafter simply referred to as spinning machine, a combined machinery of the above-mentioned type involves the difiicult problem that the time required for unwinding and consuming the yarn from a supply coil in the winding machine is neither the same for all coils nor for all winding stations of a multistation machine. For example, the occurrence of yarn breakage may account for considerable differences in time, even in cases where each coil supplies the same length of yarn. Furthermore, only such cores can be supplied to the spinning machine that do not contain any yarn residue. For securing such proper operating conditions, each winding station, upon exhaustion of a supply coil, would have to be kept at standstill until the yarn is completely unwound from the supply coil in the one winding station last to operate. This would be economically unbearable. Besides, for economy, many winding machines are so designed that slight yarn residue are no longer unwound from supply coils, coils with an insuflicient residue of yarn being simply doffed and substituted by full coils. Furthermore, the unwinding of yarn residue from the core is difiicnlt with certain kinds of yarn. For example, since the yarn tension greatly increases toward the end of the yarn being unwound from a coil, yarn of very fine count tends to break rather frequently. This not only involves frequent stoppage of the Winding station but also results in numerous knots, thus reducing the quality of the yarn package being wound. For these various reasons, an attempt to satisfactorily supply the spinning machine with empty cores would make it necessary to reduce the economy of the winding machine and to be satisfied with a poorer yarn quality.

It is therefore, another, more specific object of my invention to avoid the above-described diificulties and to achieve an automatic cooperation and mutual adaptation in the performance of the winding machine and the coilproducing machinery that secures optimum efiiciency and economy of the winding machinery as well as optimal yarn quality in the yarn packages.

To this end, and in accordance with a feature of my invention, I provide the conveying path, extending between the winding machine and the spinning machine or other coil-producing machine for automatically returning the depleted coil cores, with atleast one sorting device that is responsive to yarn-residue-containing cores and separates them from the cores passing to the coil-producing machine. This affords preserving the preferred construction of multi-station winding machinery as well as its high efficiency and to secure furnishing yarn packages of good yarn quality by making certain that only such empty cores are supplied to the coil-producing machine that are reliably free of yarn residues. Under these conditions it is irrevalen-t which particular transporting system is employed for conveying the supply coils from coilproducing machinery to the winding machine, and for automatically returning the empty cores from the winding machine to the coil-producing machinery. That is, by virtue of the invention, a satisfactory automatic circulatory travel of the empty cores from the winder to the spinning machine and of the wound cores from the spinning machine to the winding machine is achieved.

According to another feature of my invention, any yarncontaining cores coming from the winding machine and separated by the sorting device are passed to a cleaning or stripping device for removing the yarn residue, whereafter the cores, now free of residue, are issued to the conveying means that pass these cores likewise to the spinning machine.

In many winding machines, however, some of the yarnsupply coils may be doifed and substituted by full ones although still containing a sufficient remainder of yarn to economically permit resuming the unwinding operation. If such incompletely exhausted coils were likewise supplied to the cleaning device for eliminating yarn residues from the core, a considerable amount of waste would be encountered.

It is therefore another object of my invention to avoid such waste due to stripping of excessive lengths of yarn from only partially depleted yarn coils.

For this purpose, and in accordance with another feature of my invention, the above-mentioned sorting device in the return conveying path from the winding to the spinning machinery is provided with discriminating means that separate cores having a winding of yarn of given minimum size from the other, more or fully depleted cores. According to another, more specific feature of my invention, those cores that still possess a winding of yarn above the minimum limit are issued to the same conveying means that feed yarn-supply coils from the spinning machine to the winding machine. By virtue of these features of my invention, therefore, the cores issuing from the winding machine are automatically checked as to whether or not they still contain an economically unwindable remainder of yarn. If so, the cores are issued to the coil-feeder conveyor that normally passes the supply coils from the spinning machine to the winding machine, whereas other cores, having an insufficient or no remainder of yarn, are passed further along toward the spinning machine.

According to a further feature of my invention, it is of advantage to interpose in the path of the cores between the sorting device and the winding machine a readying device for preparing the starting end of the yarn as is desirable for modern winding machines, particularly those mentioned hereinbelow, which automatically operate, upon insertion of a new yarn-supply coil, to seek the starting end of the new coil but can do so only if this starting end is previously placed in ready position It is further 3 of advantage to provide in the path of the cores from the sorting device to the winding machine an apparatus for forming a yarn reserve, a so-callecl tip bunch, on the tip of the core because such a tip bunch can be seized with particular ease and reliability by the yarn-seeking members of the winding machine.

As mentioned above, the entirely or substantially depleted cores pass through the sorting device to be re-- turned to the spinning machine. If desired, all of the cores that are thus not eliminated by the sorting device can be passed through thecleaning device for eliminating any yarn residue. This .would include cores not containing any residue. With certain kinds of yarn, however, it may happen that the cores issuing from the winding machine only rarely contain yarn residues. In such cases it would be undesirable to have all of the cores pass through the cleaning device. provide an additional sorting device that'permits supplying the empty cores without residue directly to the spinning machine. v

The foregoing and more specific objects, advantages and features of my invention, said features being set forth with particularity in the claims annexed hereto, will be apparent from and will be described in, the following with reference to an embodiment of machinery according to the invention illustrated by way of example on the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows schematically a block diagram of the entire machinery.

FIG. 2 is a part-sectional side elevation of the same machinery, and also shows a schematic circuit diagram of its eiectrical components.

FIG. 3 is a plan view corresponding to FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a cross section along the line IVIV in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a cross section along the line VV in FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a schematic and part-sectional transverse vieW of one of the winding stations.

FIG. 7 is a cross section along the line VII--VII in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 8 is a schematic circuit diagram of a timing device that forms part of the illustrated machinery.

The plant schematically illustrated in FIG. 1 comprises a spinning machine 1 and a yarn-package, Winding machine 2 which receives yarn-supply coils in form of spinning cops from the spinning machine ]l and automatically returns the depleted quill cores to the spinning machine. The plant is equipped with two sorting devices 3 and 4. The first sorting device 3 receives all dotted cores from the winding machine 2 and separates those that still contain a remainder of yarn suiliciently long to be unwound in the winding machine. These cops pass into a readying device 5 where the starting end of the yarn is prepared for subsequent continuance of the un- It is then of advantage to.

that places the starting end or" the yarn into proper position. The readying device 5 is preferably provided with means for forming a reserve winding or bunch on the core tip. These cores then pass through a conveyor, indicated at 8, to the same conveyor '7 that passes the new spinning cops to thewinding machine 2.

The spinning machine is not further described herein because its particular design is of no concern to the present invention. The machine, .for example, may be similar to that known from U.S. Patent 317,607 of Abbott, issued 1885. Reference may also be had to my abovementioned co-pending application Serial No. 82,625, filed January 13, 1961.

Details of the machinery illustrated in FIG. 1 and its interconnection with the spinning machine will now be described with reference to F168. 2 and 3. The winding machine 2 shown in F163; 2 and 3 has a number of individual Winding stations, such as those denoted by 2a and 2b. The individual winding stations are fed with supply coils 20 from conveyor '7. The empty cores 2e issuing from the windin machine 2 pass onto the-conveyor belt 9. lfjthese cores have no remaining winding of yarn (2a in FIG. 3), they are deposited uponianother conveyor belt 9a which passes the cores to the conveyor 10 (FIG. 1) to return these cores .to the spinning machine.

The'sorting device 3, disposed in the conveying path 9, it? from the winding machine 2 to the spinning machine for selection of cores that still contain a yarn winding of a given minimum size, comprises a feeler 3% (FIGS. 2, 3) engageable with a body of yarn on the cores that pass through the. sorting device 3 as the cores travel on a conveyor belt 9. If the core still contains a remainder of yarn sufficient for. again using it as a supply coil in the winding machine, as is the case at 2d in FIG. 3, the fecler 391 is lifted and closes an electric contact 302. The Contact 332 completes a circuit from a current source 333 to an electromagnet 394. The magnet acts upon a a the coil of yarn, denoted in FIG. 2 byZd', is placed in winding operation in the winding machine 2. The other cores pass into the second sorting device 4 which separates cores that still contain a yarn residue and pass them into a cleaning device 6 where such residue is removech The completely empty cores issuing from the sorting device 4 and from the cleaning device 6 pass back to the spinning machine 1.

The spinning cops produced in the spinning machine 1 are transported to the winding machine 2 by an endless belt conveyor 7 trained about guide rollers 7" and 7". The cops thus enter into vacant winding stations of the winding machine. The depleted cores dotted in the winding machine 2 pass throughthe above-described devices 3, 4, 5, 6 in the return conveying path 9, 9a, to an endless belt conveyor 16 which feeds the empty cores to the spinning machine 1.

As mentioned, the first sorting device 3 in the return conveying path 9 of the machinery separates those cores that still contain a yarn winding of a given minimum size, and these cores pass through the readying device 5 rotation. During rotation the coil 2d is subjected to a current of suction air passing through a suction nozzle 210 which sucks the starting end away from the body of yarn. Shortly thereafter the motor 369 reverses its running direction and thus also the direction of rotation of coil 2d. As a result, the .lengthof yarn previously pulled otfby suction is again Woundupon the core tip of the coilfthus forming a yarn reserve or tip bunch.

Thedevice just described constitutes the readying device denoted by 5 in FIG..1 and is similarto the one according to my. Patent 3,043,529, assigned to the assignee of the. present invention.

The readying device is likewise controlled by the abovementioned electric feeler contact 302. When contact 3&2 closes the circuit from source 363 to magnet 304, it 1 simultaneously controls a timer 311 which, in turn, connects the circuits for the'magnet 398 and the motor 369 to the current source 312. The timer is so designed that the motor 309 is first caused to be rotated for a short interval of time in one direction and then for a short time in the other directions so that first a length of yarn is sucked away from the yarn body of coil 2d and thereafter is again wound upon the tip of the core as mentioned above. Thereafter the magnet 398 is energized to withdraw the stop 367 so that the coil 2d, now being equipped with a tip'bunch, drops upon a conveyor belt 8 which passes the prepared coil to the conveyor belt 7.

The internal circuits of the timer 311 are-separately shown by way of example in FIG." 8; The illustrated timer 311 has a relay SR which energizes the timer motor TM when the contact 302 (FIGS. 2, 3) closes. The motor TM drives a drum contactor shown in planar development. The contactor has fixed brush contacts S1 to S5, and a number of contact segments which interconnect various brush contacts as the contactor drum is being rotated by the motor TM. As the motor TM is started, the brush contacts S1, S2 immediately close a self-holding circuit-for motor TM. Thereafter the contact S3 switches the motor 309 (FIGS. 8, 2) to run in the forward direction. Then the contact S4'reverses the motor 309. Thereafter, the contact S5 energizes the magnet 308. Ultimately the drum reaches the illustrated position (FIG. 8) where the motor TM is again switched off and magnet 368, as well as motor 309 are deenergized. The transportation of the supply coils from the sorting device 3 through the readying device 5 takes place in the following manner: After the magnet 308 (FIG. 2) has withdrawn the stop 307, the coil 2d drops through the lower portion 3tl6a of the chute (FIGS. 3, 4) until it hits upon the conveyor belt 8. The belt 8 has upwardly protruding ribs which now entrain and lift the coil until the tip of its core hits against the wall 81 of a slidechannel structure 83, as is shown for coil 2 in FIGS. 2, 3 and 6. As soon as the one rib 8a that supported the coil has passed about the upper guide roller 82 of conveyor 8 (FIGS. 2, 6), the coil is released and glides along the slide channel 83 downwardly with the core foot pointing downward. Thus, a coil is placed in front of the conveyor 7 which carries a number of mutually spaced receiving troughs 7a (FIG. 6). The coil can then drop into the next vacant trough 7a. The issuance of the coils from conveyor 8 to conveyor 7 and the issuance of coils from conveyor 7 to the win-ding machine 2 will be further explained below with reference to FIG. 6.

The cores not eliminated from conveyor 9 by the sorting device 3 travel toward the right (FIGS. 2, 3) to the second sorting device 4. In this device those cores 2e (FIGS. 2, 3) are thrown off the belt that still contain a residue of yarn insufficient for use in the winding machine 2 and to be eliminated before the cores pass to the spinning machine. For sensing such yarn residue, the illustrated embodiment is provided with light-electrical control means comprising a photocell. A beam of light issuing from a light source 401 (FIG. 2) illuminates the photocell 402 to a greater or lesser extent, depending upon whether or not a residual winding of yarn is contained on the core 2e. The photocell 402 controls a switching device 4113 which closes a circuit from a current source 404 to an electromagnet 405. When a core 2e passing through the illumination range of the photoelectric sensing device contains a yarn residue, the magnet 405 is energized and actuates an ejector 4% (FIGS. 2, 3, 5) which pushes the core 2e into a chute 407. Within the chute 4&7 the core is held in position by a stop 408 connected to the armature of a magnet or solenoid 499. Thus, the core is retained in the position shown at 2e (FIGS. 2, 3, 5). Simultaneously with the excitation of magnet 405, a timer 411 is connected to the current source 404 and energizes a motor 410 that acts upon a friction disc 41011 to place the core 2e in rotation. The timer 411 is not separately shown because it may be essentially similar to that described above with reference to FIG. 8 except that no reversal of the motor 410 is necessary. The shaft 91 of one of the guide rollers for conveyor belt 9 is provided with a gear meshing with the gear 92 on the shaft of a wire brush 93 (FIG. 3) which eliminates the yarn residue from the core 2e. In accordance with the timing interval adjusted by the timer 411, the magnet 409 is then energized and withdraws the stop 40% so that the empty core 2e, from which the yarn residue is now cleaned away, can glide through the lower portion 407a of the chute onto the conveyor belt 9a (FIGS. 2, 5). The

6 belt 9a passes these empty cores onto the conveyor belt 10 (FIG. 1) supplying the cores to the spinning machine 1 together with those that were directly dispensed from belt 9 onto belt 9a because they did not contain a yarn residue and therefore bypassed the cleaning device.

FIG. 6 shows the means for issuing the coils from conveyor belt 8 to conveyor belt 7 and from conveyor belt 7 to the winding machine 2. The illustration also shows the means for issuing the depleted cores from the winding machine 2 onto the conveyor belt 9. As described above, mainly with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, the yarn supply coils 2 are lifted by the conveyor belt 8 until the core tip of each coil abuts against the wall 81 of a slide-channel structure 83. Then the coil 8 glides downward and is thus placed in front of conveyor 7 as is shown in FIG. 6 for coil 2]. It will be noted from the cross section of conveyor 7 shown in FIG. 7 that the grooves or troughs 7a of this conveyor are provided with lateral guide portions 712. Unless, by coincidence, a vacant trough 7a is just opposite the coil 2 (FIG. 6) as that coil arrives at the conveyor, the coil 2f will first abut against one of the lateral guide port-ions 7b until, during continued travel of conveyor 7, the coil can glide into a vacant trough 7a.

In this respect, the design and performance of the conveyor 7 is in accordance with the one denoted by the same reference numeral in the c-opending application of W. Reiners et al., Serial No. 153,244, filed November 17, 1961, now US. Patent No. 3,111,280, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Although the transfer of the yarn-supply coils from conveyor belt 7 to the winding machine 2, and the issuance of depleted cores from winding machine 2 to the conveyor belt 9 take place in the manner and substantially with the aid of means as described and illustrated in the just-mentioned copending application Serial No. 153,244, or in my above-mentioned copending application Serial No. 82,- 625, the devices and operations that secure the justmentioned stages of machine performance will be described presently with reference to their coaction in an organization according to the present invention.

\ In the illustrated embodiment, each individual winding station of the multi-station winding machine comprises a journalling frame 212 which is pivotally mounted on the stationary machine structure 211 and serves for ro tatably accommodating a take-up spool 213. The yarn F to be wound into the desired package passes onto the take-up spool 213 from the supply coil or co-p 21 through a yarn tensioner 218 and through the groove of a yarnguiding drum 214. During winding operation the shaft of the guiding drum 214 is continuously driven at con- .stant speed. The guiding groove of the drum 214 ex tends peripherally as well as in longitudinal direction so as to form a curve closed upon itself for the purpose of reciprocating the yarn along the take-up spool 213 as the yarn passes over the drum 214 onto the spool 213, the latter being driven only by frictional engagement of its periphery with the drum 214.

In the event of yarn breakage, two yarn-seeking members 215 and 216 convey the yarn ends from the take-up spool 213 and from the supply coil 21, respectively, to a knotting device 217. These yarn-seeking and knotting devices are well known as such, for example from Patent 3,033,478, and from Patent 2,769,599, as well as from the machines on sale in the United States by American Schlafhorst Corporation of Charlotte, North Carolina, these machines being described in the book entitled Autoconer Manual, issued 1962 by said corporation and available in the Scientific Library of the United State-s Patent Office. (Reference may be had also to copending applications Serial No. 704,983, filed December 24, 1957, now abandoned; Serial No. 728,139, filed April 4, 1958, now US. Patent No. 3,007,311; Serial No. 808,381, filed August 19, 1958, now abandoned, all assigned to the asaromas signee ofthe present invention.) Since, furthermore, the yarn-seeking and knotting devices are not part of the present invention proper, they are not further described herein.

The yarn-supply coil or cop 21 is held on a peg 219 (FIG. 6) rotatable about a pivot shaft. The peg 219 can be turned clockwise into parallel relation to the bottom of a slide trough 223 for receiving a full cop then sliding downward in the trough so that its tubular core becomes speared upon the peg. The peg 219 can also be turned counterclockwise from the unwinding position of cop 21 to a position where a dofier member 221 can remove a depleted core. The doffer member 221 is pivotally mounted on the frame structure 211 at 221a. Firmly connected with the pivot shaft of peg 219 is a control lever 226 which serves to temporarily hold the yarn end coming from the cop 21 so as to place the yarn end into the path of the seeking member 216 which then seizes the yarn end and conveys it to the knotter 211. The conveyor 9 for returning the empty cores to the spinning machine extends on the rear side of the doffer member 221.

As mentioned, a slide trough 223 is located in front of the peg 219 so that the cops can slide onto the peg, then lowered to receiving position. Located at the upper end of trough 223 is a lock 224 which turns aboutits pivot during coil-exchanging operation and then releases a new cop 22 from an upper trough portion 225. The

lock 224 is actuated by a linking rod 240. When me-mher 221 pushes a depleted core off the peg, the rod 24% actuates the lock 224 so that the cop 22 can pass from trough 225 into trough 223 and thus onto the .peg 219.

Mounted beneath linking rod 246 is an arm 229 which continuously performs pendulous motion about its pivot 22% and thereby drives an arm 270 of .a suction tube 230 to continuously move back and forth, thus placing the suction nozzle periodically into the position where the nozzle sucks the yarn end from the cop 22. Hence, when the cop 22 passes onto the peg 219, the starting end of the yarn remains held in nozzle 230 where it can be entrained by the lever 220 when the latter is in the dotand-dash position. The yarn end is then moved upwardly to the full-line position of lever 220 where the yarn end can be seized by the yarn-seeking member 216 to be conveyed to the knotteras described above.

Located near the upper end of the trough 225 is a feeler 241 which is actuated by the individual chain-links of the conveyor 7 (FIG. 6). The feeler 241 is pivotally mounted at 246. Each trough 711' of conveyor 7 has a dog pin 24% whose motion is transmitted by a lever 243 through a spring 276 to a linking rod 242 joined with the feeler 241 by an arm 277., If a cop 22 is located in the trough 225, the feeler 241 cannot follow the pivlotal motion of the transmission lever 243 driven by the dog 244, so that the travel of the dog 244 past the lever 243 has only the effect of compressing the spring 276.

However, when there is no cop 22 in the trough 225, the

feeler 241 can freely follow the angular motion of the lever 243, and a shoulder ring 247 on rod 242 becomes displaced toward the right and abuts against a nose 250 of a closure flap 23 9. This opens the flap and releases a new cop from the trough '7a of conveyor '7. The cop then drops into the trough 225 and remains ready to variety of modifications with respeotto components and arrangement. For example, the particular winding ma,-

chine described as well as the devices for forming -a new yarnreserve or for cleaning yarn residue away from the cores, as well as the various conveying components, can be given designs other than particularly illustrated and described herein, without. departing from the essential features of my invention and Within the scope of the claims annexed hereto.

I claim:

1. Yarn coil replacement system for replacing empty and partly wound coil cores from a yarn-package winding machine with yarn coils from a yarn-supplycoil production machine, said system comprising a forward conveyor having coil carrier means for passing coils from the production machine to the winding machine, and return conveying means having a conveyingdirection opposed to thatof said forward conveyor for passing empty and partly wound coil coresfrom the winding machine back to the production machine, and a sorting device interposed in the conveying path of'said core return con- Veying means for separation of cores containing yarn windings from those passing to the coil production machine.

2. Yarn coil replacement systemfor replacing empty and partly wound coil cores from a yarn-package winding machine with yarn coils from a yarn-supply coil production machine, said system comprising a forward conveyor having coil carrier means for passing coils from the production machine to the winding machine, and return conveying means having a conveying direction vopposed to that of said forward conveyor for passing empty and partly wound coil cores from the winding machine back to the production machine, a sorting device in the path of said core return conveying means and responsive to partly Wound cores still containing a given minimum quantity of yarn to separate said latter cores from those passing to the coil production machine, and transport means bypassing the production machine and connecting said sorting device with the winding machine for returning said separated yarn-containing cores to the winding machine.

3. Yarn coil replacement system according to claim 2, comprising a readying device disposed between said sort ing device andthe winding machine. for readying the yarn end of said yarn-containing cores being returned by said transport means.

4. Yarn coil replacement system according to claim 2, comprising in the path of said transport means a device for forming a yarn reserve on the cores being returned by said transport means. 5. Yarn coil replacement system for replacing empty and partly wound coil cores from a yarn winding machine with yarn coils from a spinning machine, said system comprising a forward conveyor having coil carrier means for passing coils from the spinning machine to the winding machine, and return conveying means having a conveying direction opposed to that of said forward conveyor for passing empty and partly'wound coil cores from the winding machine back to the spinning machine, a sorting device in the path of said core return means and responsive to partly wound cores still containing a given minimum quantity of yarn to separate. said latter cores from those passing to the spinning machine, transport means movable between said sorting device and the winding machine for returning said separated yarn-containing cores to the winding machine, and a cleaning device disposed between said sorting device and the spinning machine for removing yarn residues from the cores returning to said spinning machine.

6. Yarn coil replacement system for replacing empty and partly wound coil cores from a yarn windingmachine with yarn coils from a spinning machine, said system comprising a forward conveyor having coil carrier means for passing coilsfrom the spinning machine to the winding machine, and return conveying means'having a conveying direction opposed to that of saidforward conveyor for passing empty and partly Wound coil cores from the winding machine back to the spinning machine, a first sorting device in the path of said core return means and responsive to partly wound cores still containing a given minimum quantity of yarn to separate said latter cores from those passing to the spinning machine, transport means bypassing the spinning machine and movable between said first sorting device and the Winding machine for returning said separated yarn-containing cores to the Winding machine, a second sorting device interposed between said first sorting device and the spinning machine for separating cores having a yarn residue below said minimum quantity, a cleaning device connected with said second sorting device to eliminate said residue, said second sorting device and said cleaning device being both 15 DONALD W.

connected in said return path to supply the spinning machine With cores free of residue.

Refierences Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,567,990 9/51 Coleman 2819 X 2,570,057 10/51 Haythornthwaite 57-52 2,980,250 4/ 6 1 Beckers 209-90 X 3,021,949 2/62 Hogg et al. 20980 X 3,029,031 4/62 Furst 242-656 3,082,908 3/63 Ingharn.

MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

PARKER, Examiner. 

1. YARN COIL REPACEMENT SYSTEM FOR REPLACING EMPTY AND PARTLY WOUND COIL CORES FROM A YATN-PACKAGE WINDING MACHINE WITH YARN COILS FROM A YARN-SUPPLY COIL PRODUCTION MACHINE, SAID SYSTEM COMPRISING A FORWARD CONVEYOR HAVING COIL CARRIER MEANS FOR PASSING COILS FROM THE PRODUCTION MACHINE TO THE WINDING MACHINE, AND RETURN CONVEYING MEANS HAVING A CONVEYING DIRECTION OPPOSED TO THAT OF SAID FORWARD CONVEYOR FOR PASSING EMPTY AND PARTLY WOUND COIL CORES FROM THE WINDING MACHINE BACK TO THE PRODUCTION MACHINE, AND A SORTING DEVICE INTERPOSED IN THE CONVEYING PATH OF SAID CORE RETURN CONVEYING MEANS FOR SEPARATION OF CORE CONTAINING YARN WINDINGS FROM THOSE PASSING TO THE COIL PRODUCTION MACHINE. 